Almost a Queen: Mary de Bohun, c 1368-1394

The women who married into the Plantagenet family provided vital links between the generations, even if they never wore a crown.  One such was Mary de Bohun, c 1368-1394, the wife of Henry of Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV.  She would give birth to four remarkable sons who fit the term, band of brothers, even if the phrase was a later invention.

Mary herself had lion's blood.  Her father was Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford.  Her mother, Joan FitzAlan,  was the daughter of the 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, a grandson of Henry III.  Mary was also a descendant of Welsh prince Llewellyn the Great.  Mary and her sister Eleanor were the sole heirs to their father's vast inheritance.  Eleanor was married to another Plantagenet, Thomas of Woodstock.  In order to keep the entire FitzAlan inheritance for Eleanor, Thomas tried to force Mary, who was 14 years old, to become a nun.  John of Gaunt and Mary's aunt stole her away from Thomas and took her to Arundel Castle, where she married Henry of Bolingbroke in 1380.  John of Gaunt wanted to keep the marriage unconsummated until Mary was at least 16, but Mary and Henry had other plans.  She soon became pregnant with a child that lived only a few days after birth. 

Mary was at Monmouth Castle where she gave birth to the future Henry V, 1386-1422.  Next came Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, 1387-1421, John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, 1389-1435, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1390-1447.  Two girls followed, Blanche, 1392-1409, who later married the Elector Palatine of the Rhine.  Philippa, 1394-1430, married Eric of Pomerania and eventually became Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.  Thus, all of Mary's surviving children did quite well for themselves.  All the boys were able military commanders, Henry V being the victor of Agincourt and John of Bedford being Joan of Arc's nemesis.  Mary didn't live to see her children grow up.  She died in childbirth to Philippa and was buried at the Church of Annunciation of Newarke in Leicester.  The elaborate Psalter given to commemorate her and Henry's marriage survives, showing her likeness on the cover.